Handling metallic sheets



Jan. 24, 1933. c. BURGESS HANDLING METALLIC SHEETS Filed 001:. 23. 19292 Sheets-Sheet l 0% BY QM (MW ATTORNEY5.

Jan. 24, 1933. c. BURGESS HANDLING METALLIC SHEETS Filed Oct. 23, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet I INi ENTOR. n

A TTORNEY$ Patented Jan. 24, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFica CLYDEBURGESS, 0F ASELAND, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN BOLT-IE6 MILLCOMPANY, OF MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO HANDLING METALLICSHEETS Application filed October 28, 1929. Serial No. 401,028.

My invention is addressed to a method and means for handling metallicsheets at the close of a cold rolling operation, and is particularlyuseful in the handling of highly finished sheets such as drawing stockfor automobile bodies and fenders.

Hitherto the handling'of sheets after cold rolling has involved a numberarated both in time and place. In one mlll, as an exemplary procedure,when the sheets came through the last stand of cold rolls they wereconveyed therefrom on a driven belt conveyor. Two men lifted the sheetsfrom the conveyor as they. came through and piled them carefully at oneside. They were then' picked up by an overhead crane in lifts ofapproximately 15,000 pounds, and carried to a roller leveler where twbmen loaded them onto a driven belt conveyor fe'ding into the machine,and two more lifted them from a conveyor on the exit side and piled themon a' truck. This truck was then hauled by a battery tractor to anoiling machine comprising four or more canton flannel rolls keptsaturated with oil. At this point two more men lifted the sheets onto adriven belt conveyor feeding into the oiling machine; but the machineitself piled the oiled sheets upon a 'truck. This could be done becausethe surface film of oil protected the highly finished sheets from damagein sliding one over the other. It was not possible to have the rollerleveler pile the sheets dry, without damage to the surface of thesheets.

Thus, three distinct and separated operations were carried on: coldrolling, roller leveling and oiling. In addition therewas one transferby the use of an overhead crane, and one transfer by a batterytractorybfore the sheets were ready to go to the inspector. Exclusive ofthose emp oyed in the rolling, and the operators of the crane andtractor. it took eight men to handle the sheets. and the sheets werepiled three times.

It is an object of my invention to carry on all three :of theseoperations without the use of any manual labor, and in one place,efiecting savings in direct labor, floor space, and crane and tractorservice.

It is an object of my invention to carry of steps sep on theseoperations continuously, with an uninterrupted sheet travel.

It is a further object of my invention to eliminated a separate oilingmachine and to do away with a number of conveyors anddrives, therebysaving in cost of equipment.

It isstill a further object of my invention to provide a novel sheethandling mechanism.

These and other objects of my invention which I shall point outhereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art uponreading these specifications, I accgmpli'sh by that certain constructionand arrangement of .parts of which I shall now describe an exemplaryembodiment, it being understood that modifications may be made in itwithout departing from the spirit of my invention. Reference is made tothe drawings which accompany these specifications.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a semi-diagrammatic illustration of the endof a stand of rolls showing the leveler, conveyors and automatic piler.

Figure 2 is a view of a part of the piling mechanism showing theconveyor and skids in section, and the side guides in elevation.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the piling mechapism with a part sectionalview of the leve er.

Fi re 4 shows the rack member used in positioning the back stop.

In the practice of my mvention, thesheets after passing through the laststand of cold rolls 1, are carried by a driven belt. conveyor 2 directlyinto a roller leveler 3. Oil is sup-' plied to the first two or threerolls 4 of the leveler by means of a drip or spray pipe 5, or othersuitable means, from a tank 6. The oil is deposited upon the sheets asthey pass through the rolls, and onto the lower rolls of the leveler inthe intervals between sheets. The remaining rolls of the leveler serveto distribute the oil evenly over the entire sheet surface on both topand bottom. The sheets thus. oiled can be piled by the roller levelerwithout damage to their surfaces.

For the purpose of receiving the sheets as piled, and facilitating theirremoval without interrupting the process, I provide the mechanism nextto be described. I provide an in- 3 'makea neat ile endwise, ll use acollapsible sto 12. Th1s step may be made in any form passage of thestacked sheets down the condes red; but is demountable to permit the:veyor. In the embodiment shown, I prowide a channel 13 fixed centrallyof the conveyor, and having notches v13a in its upper portion forming arack, This member is shown in Figure 4,-and comprises the channel rack13, and a rod or strap 30 of metal aflixed thereto at one end, andturned over at the other to form a hook 31 which engages -over a crossmember of the roller-leveler frame as at 32.. The stop proper 12,comprises a member of angle irons against which the sheets may strike.The lower art has base 14 held to the angles by a hrac et 15. A rod 16aengages a notch in the channel so as to fix the stop in position. lit isheld to the base by a pivoted linlr l6, and the stgp is braced bypivoted locking leversl? an 18 The stop can thus he released by pullingupwardly on a rod 19, breaking the oint in the locking levers; and itcan then be lifted out of the way. I

Side guides are provided having bases 20, guide members 21, andconnecting brackets 22. Channels 23, also notched so that the spacing ofthe guides can be varied, are riastened in place on either side of theconveyor, and the bases of the guides are formed to err gage thesenotches. The guides may have plates 27 afiixed to them.

When a pile of sheets, say, of from 15,000 to 20,000 pounds, has beenformed" between the ides 21 and against the collapsible etc 12, t e.stop is removed loy pullin up the 're a 19 so as to release it, andthen li ing the entire stop .out of the way. The air brake 8, which,during the piling operation has been. applied to the under side of therolls of the @gravity conveyor, is released, and the pile oi sheets,riding on the skids, rolls down to the far end of the conveyor where itstravel is arrested by the brake 9. Thus room is made for a new pile ofsheets; a new pair of skids is placed in position, the collapsible stopreadjusted, andthe piling continues. At some time during the formationof the second ile of sheets, an overhead crane removes the st pile fromthe end of the conveyor.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is c 1. In sheet metal apparatus, cold rolls,conveyor, a roller leveler and means for feeding oil upon the faces ofthe rolls therein, and

a device for iiorming'metallic sheets into a 3. In sheet metalapparatus, a device which feeds sheets and means for forming a pilethereof, said means comprisin a conveyor, side guides, and a stoplocated a ,7 ve said conveyor, and comprising a support, an uprightmember, releasable means for bracing said upright on said support, andcontrolling means for said conveyor.

CLYDE BURGESS.

